On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, police arrested and charged Alrick Lamb, 28, with two counts of Contempt of Judicial Order. One count was for failing to sign in every Friday at the Raccoon Street Police Station, and the other count was for committing an offense while under bail from a Magistrate Court, which prohibited further charges during bail. The following day, on Thursday, May 2, 2024, police arrested and charged Alyon Pernell Domingo, 22, a Belizean construction worker from San Pedro Town, with two counts of Contempt of Judicial Order. One count was for failing to sign in every Tuesday and Friday at the Corozal Police Station, and the other count was for not residing at his registered address in the Corozal District while on bail for the charge of gang membership.
Year: 2024
Police Arrest Three Men for Alleged Gang Membership
On Wednesday, May 1, 2024, police arrested and charged Allen Albert Anderson, also known as “Grace,” a 24-year-old Belizean construction worker from Ladyville Village, Belize District, for the offense of belonging to a gang.
On the same day, Julian Emilio Woodye, a 24-year-old unemployed Belizean from Belize City, was arrested and charged for the same offense.
Also on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, Kenyon Carlton Flores, a 23-year-old Belizean construction worker from Belize City, was formally arrested and charged with being a member of a gang.
BEL Announces Power Outages Due to Generation Shortages and CFE Supply Reduction
Belize Electricity Limited (BEL) has announced scheduled power interruptions across various service areas in response to temporary in-country generation shortages and a reduction in supply from Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) in Mexico.
Over the past few weeks, daily electricity demand has fluctuated between 85 MW and 125 MW, while in-country generation capacity is currently capped at a maximum of 95 MW. This has led to increased reliance on CFE, which typically provides up to 55 MW of capacity to the grid. However, BEL has received communication from CFE indicating challenges in sustaining energy supply to Belize, with potential curtailments expected over the next 48 hours.
To manage these supply shortages, BEL will implement load shedding measures starting at 10:00 a.m. this morning. Initially, areas such as portions of Orange Walk will experience interruptions. In the early afternoon, load shedding will extend to portions of Corozal, San Ignacio, Dangriga, and Independence. This action is necessary to balance the available energy supply effectively.
The gas turbine at Westlake on the George Price Highway, a key backup power source for BEL, is currently undergoing upgrades and is temporarily offline. This unit is expected to resume operation early next week. Additionally, BEL is in the process of installing a gas turbine in San Pedro, with completion anticipated by the end of May. These additional generation sources will significantly bolster BEL’s capacity to meet demand over the next year, even in the event of supply curtailments from CFE.
BEL expresses gratitude to its customers for their patience and understanding during this period. The company remains committed to maintaining a safe, reliable, and sustainable energy supply across all service areas nationwide.
Selection of New Haitian Prime Minister Sparks Division Within Transitional Council
The selection of Fritz Bélizaire as Haiti’s new prime minister has caused a rift within the transitional council entrusted with appointing new leaders for the country. Four out of the seven voting council members announced their choice of Bélizaire on Tuesday, surprising many Haitians and revealing an unexpected political alliance.
Now, council members who oppose Bélizaire, a former sports minister during René Préval’s second presidency from 2006 to 2011, are considering their next steps, which may include challenging the decision or resigning from the council.
The transitional council, tasked with preparing for elections and tackling security challenges, announced Edgard Leblanc Fils as its president and proposed Fritz Bélizaire, a former sports minister, as the new interim prime minister.
Established with support from the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), the nine-member council, sworn in at the National Palace last week, includes seven voting members. Its responsibilities include appointing a new prime minister and cabinet.
The council will wield certain presidential powers until a new elected president takes office by February 7, 2026.
Benque’s Deputy Mayor Verbally Resigns
Disunity is stirring within the Benque Viejo del Carmen Town Council as Deputy Mayor Jenny Martinez publicly announced her resignation via social media on Tuesday night. Martinez, appointed to the position following the recent municipal elections, attributed her decision to a perceived preference for a male deputy mayor over a female counterpart.
Martinez voiced her concerns, stating, “We women have the capability. Four men voted in favor of appointing a new deputy because they believe women are incapable of holding high government office.”
Despite receiving the second-highest number of votes and officially assuming the role of deputy mayor on March 19th, the council opted to reassess her appointment last month after being informed that the highest vote count does not automatically secure the position.
In a social media video, Martinez conveyed her disagreement with this decision, ultimately leading to her verbal resignation from the role of deputy mayor.
We’ll keep following this story.
One Dead in Road Traffic Incident
One person lost his life following a vehicular crash on Tuesday afternoon. The victim has been identified as twenty-nine-year-old Marcelino Pop, a delivery man from Belmopan.
According to police, at around 12:30 p.m., officers responded to a traffic accident on St. Mathews Street in the Maya Mopan Area of Belmopan City. They arrived to find a silver Nissan Rogue and a blue Meilun 100cc motorcycle, both damaged.
Investigations revealed that twenty-one-year-old Calvin Martinez was driving the Nissan Rogue on Saint Matthew’s Street. As Martinez approached the corner of St. Jude Street, the motorcycle traveling collided with the left front side of the Nissan Rogue.
The collision caused Pop to be thrown off his motorcycle into the truck’s windshield and then onto the ground. Pop sustained serious head and body injuries and was rushed to the Western Regional Hospital. Unfortunately, he passed away while receiving treatment.
Deadly Violence in Chetumal Raises Concerns for Belizean Travelers
We begin our newscast tonight with an escalation in deadly cartel violence just north of the Belize border with Mexico, in Chetumal, Quintana Roo. The popular Belizean destination has become a warzone for feuding drug gangs that operate in that southern Mexican state. Violent encounters between heavily armed gunmen have prompted the Mexican military to dispatch two hundred members of the Mexican army, air force, and national guard to the Othón Blanco municipality to quell growing insecurity among residents. This follows the murders of a businessman, as well as the head of the Secretariat of Citizen Security, and a minor whose father is a municipal police officer. Authorities have made several arrests and there has also been the kidnapping of a captain of the Mexican Army, who was released hours later. The rash of violence between the cartels has raised serious concerns among Belizeans who travel to neighboring Chetumal. News Five spoke with Oscar Arnold, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico, about the recent upheaval and his safety advice for Belizeans traveling to Quintana Roo.
Oscar Arnold, Belize’s Ambassador to Mexico
“The official word coming out is that it’s two rivalling groups, two groups who are feuding and as such, the incidences have been targeted to people who supposedly are on a list. The entire Quintana Roo area as is a tourist hotspot, is a tourist destination. It includes everywhere from Calderitas, Bacalar, Xcalak, Tulum, Playa, Cancun. For Mexico, tourism is a $40 billion US a year industry, so it’s not something that they take lightly, and as far back as 2019, the federal government had dispatched national guards. They had dispatched 1500 national guards, so the Cancun and Tulum area to address and arrest the issues that were flaring up there in crime. So we’re seeing it at a smaller scale in Chetumal, and what they’ve been doing is that they’ve sent these National Guard men to try to support and assist and try to quell any further incidences from occurring. As it relates to Belizeans, I believe that the Government of Belize, the Foreign Affairs office as well as the security apparatus in Belize have been monitoring it. There’s been numerous meetings. I’ve been asked to send whatever, intelligence, whatever report that we have on the ground so that they can review it and take a look at it to see if there’s a decision that needs to be taken. I don’t think we are there yet, but Belizeans should observe some caution if they’re traveling across the border. I know that we go there for recreation we go there to shop we go there to visit family members, we go there for medical reasons. But I would advise them to stay on the major roads, don’t travel at night, don’t travel alone. Make sure that you have all your requisite paperwork. If you’re taking a vehicle over their insurance registration, and also to ensure that you check in formally at the immigration checkpoint at the border crossing. We’ve had several instances where Belizeans just drive across and then they run into a roadblock or a checkpoint later on down the road and then they get charged for committing some sort of immigration violation. Belizeans going over to Chetumal should expect to see increased security, increased roadblocks in and around Chetumal.”
ComPol Williams Discusses Violence in Southern Mexico
On the home front, Belizean authorities met earlier today to discuss citizen and national security in the face of mounting cartel aggression in southern Mexico. With concerns being raised among business owners in the Corozal Free Zone, as well as travelers, and residents near the northern border, the security apparatus came together this morning to discuss a strategy should the violence seep into northern Belize. Commissioner of Police Chester Williams spoke with the media this afternoon.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“I guess by now the information coming out of Chetumal has been widespread within the Belizean population and there is some cause for concern by Belizeans in the event that what is happening there may trickle into Belize. And while we can look at the information coming out of there as reliable, there is also some that is not reliable. We know how your colleagues in the media can be at times, but as the security apparatus of the country it is important that we meet and so we met this morning to discuss our strategy in terms of how we are going to address the issues locally. There is no cause for concern or alarm as there is no information at this time to indicate that any of the players from Chetumal have or is coming into the country. But just as a means of precaution, to give the Belizean people that sense of safety and security, we met to discuss how we’re going to deploy our resources in the northern area and to see how we can reorganize our current northern operations to make sure that we can cover as much ground as we can. Our team, police and BDF, remains extremely vigilant along the irregular border crossing, as well as the regular border crossing. So there is where we are at this time.”
ComPol Says No Cartels are Operating Inside the Free Zone
Are the Mexican cartels and their operatives establishing themselves inside the Corozal Free Zone? It’s a question that was put to the Commissioner of Police following dubious reports that individuals believed to have been members of the warring drug gangs are taking hold of the CFZ. Here’s how ComPol Williams responded to that question.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“No. At this time, no. We did have an operation in the Free Zone yesterday where we had seen two vehicles that we were told had been left abandoned and we went to retrieve those vehicles but when we got there the owners came out and the vehicles were checked. They were legitimate vehicles and the owners were also checked out as well, and so those vehicles were released to their respective owners.
Reporter
“There was a report at some point that there was a cartel operative living within the Free Zone. What ever happened with that?”
Chester Williams
“I guess we had done something about that. I personally had put out a notice or a warning in respect of that and that person no longer resides or in any way is around the Free Zone area. He has removed himself from there and so currently there is no information to indicate that any of the bad actors from over on the Mexican side are operating or are living within the Free Zone area.”
Reporter
“So you would not say, then, that the Free Zone is compromised by cartel operatives from Mexico.”
Chester Williams
“At this time, no. The Free Zone is very safe. The security of the Free Zone remains in place and the police go there now and then, we also have a team of police officers who work the Free Zone area and so far all remains in order at the Free Zone.”
Can Belize’s Security Apparatus Match Mexican Cartels Weapons?
What about Belize’s ability to match firepower with the Mexican cartels should there be an armed conflict? According to the top cop, compared to what has been put forward elsewhere on social media, the Belize Defense Force, as well as its local counterparts, is more than capable and can meet the cartels where weapons are concerned.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
“Our team remains in place, extremely vigilant and alert and contrary to what… I heard a voice clip which was done by Santiago Castillo that the Belizean security forces are no match to the cartels. That’s not true. We are prepared in the event that anything should happen. This is our country, our people and we will defend our country and our people as best as we can. There is no time to be in fear of anything or anybody. I have not gotten any information to indicate that any member of the security forces, whether coast guard, police, or BDF are in fear of anything, no. No fear at all.”
Reporter
“Over time, members of the Belize Police Department have said to me that the weapons they have are no match even for our gangs here and this is before we saw those photographs of what was found on St. George‘s Caye. Now, Mexican cartels are on a way different level when it comes to weaponry and what they have access to.”
Chester Williams
“We have to understand that when we do patrols in urban settings, we don‘t issue big guns. So don‘t be fooled by the small .38 or nine millimeter you see with the police officers patrolling the urban areas. When we have officers conducting operations in the jungles or, for example the northern operations where they are doing patrols along the irregular border crossing areas, we don‘t carry nine millimeter or .38. We have weapons that are equally or more capable than what the enemies may have.”